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Yesterday’s WSJ featured an editorial with a suggestion for Elon Musk to consider as part of DOGE’s hunt for federal agencies to “wish into the cornfield”. Interestingly, it’s an idea with a bipartisan history and one that just might resonate with incoming SEC Chair designee Paul Atkins – but also one that the crypto industry might not be as enthused about. Here’s an excerpt from the opinion piece by Duke University’s Lee Reiners:

If DOGE is to avoid the fate of prior blue-ribbon commissions and panels with a similar goal, it should begin with the low-hanging fruit and encourage Congress to merge the SEC and CFTC before taking up a crypto market structure bill.

DOGE would have an ally in this effort in Paul Atkins, Mr. Trump’s nominee to lead the SEC. Testifying in 2015 on the effect of Dodd-Frank, Mr. Atkins told the House Financial Services Committee that the legislation’s authors “blew” a “once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to streamline our crazy quilt of financial services regulators,” most notably by failing to merge “the SEC and CFTC to create one markets regulator.” Working alongside DOGE as well as artificial-intelligence and crypto czar David Sacks, Mr. Atkins has an opportunity to right this wrong. Let’s hope they don’t blow it.

The editorial points out one potential fly in the ointment – the crypto industry, which poured huge sums of money into Trump’s campaign, wants to make passage of the FIT21 legislation a top priority. That bill, which passed the House last summer, essentially divides regulatory responsibility for crypto between the SEC and the CFTC.

This division of authority means that both agencies will need to spend money ramping up to regulate their piece of the action and makes inter-agency turf battles almost inevitable. That’s not exactly a recipe for enhanced governmental efficiency. Accordingly, the editorial calls for Congress to merge the SEC and CFTC prior to enacting legislation providing a regulatory scheme for the crypto industry. That kind of delay is unlikely to sit well with the crypto crowd.

– John Jenkins